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The Spiritual Journey of David Kassie

After he got kicked out of CIBC last February David Kassie had time to think. Just to go fishin' and stare up at the sky and contemplate his life.

"Thanks," he thought to the guys who fired him. "You did me a favour. After all the hustle and bustle, now I have the time to discover what I really want."

And what did Davey want? Art classes? Meditation? An executive role in a charitable organization? No. He found himself remembering the good times at Old Fezziwig's Wood Gundy.

It was a just a brokerage house but it was owned by the people who worked there. He knew everyone by name and everyone shared in eachother's ups and downs, just like one happy family. Boy, that was fun.

And, so, he decided, he wanted back into his old business. But in a set-up that would renew the passion of his younger years.

Youth Restored

By a happy coincidence (?), his old colleagues Dan Daviau and Phil Evershed had recently left the CIBC and everyone needed something to do, so the guys set to planning a brand new firm. (Hey! We've got some old pc's back in the barn! Let's start a new company!)

The Hero's Travails

Now, The Kingpin, The Top and Dr Phil are not stupid men. They didn't want to bring down the wrath of the banking gods so they came up with a strategy for recruiting partners.

They would not approach anyone at CIBC directly. They would put the word out and let the people come to them. The old, "if you build it they will come" model.

If anyone took the bait, they would have to make it clear, in writing, that they were initiating the contact. Here's the exact wording of the statement.

"....acknowledges that the undersigned was not solicited,but rather approached Genuity or its partnerson the undersigned's own initiativeto enquire about the prospect of joining the firm."

Still, even with this protection, Genuity made sure that everything was completely hush-hush.

Kassie says that there are great people at CIBC whom he couldn't get because they didn't come to him.

But one has to wonder: they had to get the word out somehow. Did they use intermediaries? An old boy's network which spread their story throughout the bank?

Perhaps they hung around the Starbucks on Bay Street hoping to bump into old pals who would ask them what was new?

Or, maybe, they did, in fact, approach people, directly or through friends, and asked them afterwards to sign the aforementioned agreement. Just like the Prime Minister never fires anyone; he just gets them to conveniently resign.